Red alert in Gulf
Warning to British ships after Navy frigate trains guns on three Iranian boats trying to seize one of our tankers
Defence and Security Editor vowed it would get revenge by seizing a British vessel, with president Hassan Rouhani saying: ‘You [Britain] are the initiator of insecurity and you will realise the consequences later.’
Mohammad Jazayeri, a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts clerical body, said on Saturday that Britain ‘should be scared of Iran’s retaliatory measures’.
Wednesday’s incident, which came amid escalating tension between Iran and the West, prompted high-level talks in Whitehall as to whether Britain should send more warships to the region because HMS Montrose is unable to escort all UK vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow Gulf passage between Iran and Oman.
It emerged yesterday the British Government had raised the security warning for UK-flagged merchant vessels in Iranian waters to its highest level of ‘critical’.
Ships were urged to avoid travelling through specific shipping lanes after the ‘level 3’ update, which signals an ‘incident deemed to be imminent’.
Tensions between the two nations were heightened further yesterday when Gibraltar police said they had arrested the captain and chief officer of the Iranian supertanker that has been detained for a week. Police seized documents and electronic devices from the Grace 1 vessel, which is still in port in Gibraltar.
The British Heritage tanker, able to haul about one-million barrels of oil, was sailing toward Basra in Iraq when it made an abrupt U-turn on Saturday following the incident in Gibraltar.
It had been chartered by Royal Dutch Shell to transport crude oil from Basra to north-west Europe. It then sat off Saudi Arabia’s coast inside the Persian Gulf, fearing it could be seized by Iran in a tit-fortat response.
On Wednesday, the empty vessel headed out of the region, with the Royal Navy shadowing from afar. It was near the island of Abu Musa that it was approached by Revolutionary Guard gunboats which tried to ‘impede’ the vessel. The gunboats ‘harassed’ the tanker and tried to make it change course, Navy sources told the Mail.
Although Abu Musa was in disputed territorial waters – which ships are allowed to pass through – HMS Montrose remained in international waters throughout.
The warship also deployed its Westland Wildcat helicopter to circle the Iranian boats in a bid to scare them off.
Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt urged the Iranians to back away from further confrontations. She said: ‘The UK Government is concerned by this action and we urge the Iranian authorities to deescalate the situation.’
But Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the allegation that Iran sought to block the ship as ‘worthless’. He said ‘the claims that have been made are for creating tension’.
Up to three British-flagged ships travel through the Strait of Hormuz in any given day, with up to 30 in the seas in the Persian Gulf. But there is currently only one UK escort ship – HMS Montrose – in the region, meaning it is impossible for it to protect every vessel.
Under the warnings sent out by the UK Government yesterday, merchant vessels are being urged to avoid the waters where possible and be ‘vigilant’.
Last night, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Navy had been ‘run down’ and pledged to bolster the fleet if he becomes prime minister.
Referring to the clash in the Gulf, he said: ‘When you look at this week’s events it shows that in recent decades we have run down the Navy too much. If I become prime minister, I will review this as part of a wider look at our defence capability.’
Mr Hunt would add more warships and carrier-based jets to the Navy’s capabilities because ‘boosting our hard power is the surest way to keep Britain respected overseas,’ he pledged in an article for The Daily Telegraph.
Tensions in the region have risen since US President Donald Trump pulled out of a nuclear deal signed by his predecessor Barack Obama. This eased sanctions against the Islamic regime on condition it restricted its nuclear ambitions to energy generation. The US and Iran came close to military conflict last month when Iran shot down a US drone and Trump ordered retaliatory air strikes, only to call them off minutes before impact.